U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), co-chair of the Congressional Sportmen’s Caucus (CSC), today applauded the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) announcement that it would restore funding sequestered from the Wildlife Restoration and the Sport Fish Restoration & Boating Safety Trust Funds (Sportsmen Trust Funds).
“Sportsmen and women pay excise taxes to fund outdoor recreation projects,” said Thune. “These funds are to be used to help restore and preserve wildlife habitats and provide recreational safety education, not fund the administration’s pet projects. I am pleased that OMB recognized the sequestered funds should become available for payment in Fiscal Year 2014 without further Congressional action now or in the future. These Sportsmen Trust Funds are critical to enhancing outdoor recreation in states like South Dakota.”
Thune, as co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, was joined by fellow CSC members, Senators Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), in sending a letter on October 30, 2013, requesting OMB restore funding sequestered from the Sportsmen Trust Funds. The senators pointed out in the letter to OMB that funding for the Sportsmen Trust Funds are derived from federal excise taxes, not from federal income taxes. Sportsmen Trust Fund taxes are generated from sales of guns and ammunition, fishing tackle and equipment, motorboat fuel, and bows and arrows, and used to restore and manage fisheries and wildlife habitats, open and maintain recreational access, and deliver hunter and boating safety education.